1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heddle, especially to a lifting heddle as a part of a leno selvedge device, said heddle comprising a head portion and a base portion with a closed or an open eyelet for mounting to a heddle frame or to a heddle ridge bar, said head portion and/or base portion being adapted to be secured stationarily to the heddle frame or the heddle ridge bar. As used herein, the term “open eyelet” is to be construed as a slot for example.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various heddles are known in the weaving trade. Lifting heddles are more specifically known to be part of a leno selvedge device, in which one half heddle is alternately carried along by the lifting heddles to form the leno selvedge. In the region of its upper crosspiece, the half heddle comprises an eyelet for receiving the stationary thread, a leno thread being guided between half heddle and lifting heddle, said leno thread passing at each change of shed from one side of the half heddle to the other side of said half heddle for forming the leno weave (DE 39 12 733 C1).
To facilitate mounting of the lifting heddles to the heddle frames or to the heddle ridge bars receiving the lifting heddles, it is already known to provide the head portion of such a lifting heddle with a pivotal bracket (EP 0 344 428 A1). At the opposite end of the lifting heddle, that is, on the base portion, there is provided an opening for receiving the other heddle frame or the other opposite heddle ridge bar. By attaching the lifting heddles in this manner to the heddle ridge bars or to the heddle frames, the heddles are not prevented from moving laterally on the heddle ridge bars or the heddle frames.
What are termed mini leno selvedge apparatus are moreover known, which can also be utilized in particular in the center of the fabric, e.g., when the fabric is divided in its center, or in the dent bar when multiple webs are being woven. Such type mini leno selvedge apparatus possess heddle ridge bars in the form of a finger-shaped extension, the length of said finger-shaped extension corresponding at the most to the width of the head portion or of the base portion of the heddle so that the outer edge of the head portion or of the base portion is flush with the front-side end of the heddle ridge bar. This is necessary because the warp yarn glides along the heddle. If the end of the heddle ridge bar projects beyond the width of the heddle, this would impair the travel of the warp yarn along the heddle.
To fix the heddle on the heddle ridge bar, it is now known to screw the heddle to the lifting heddle in the region of its head portion or of its base portion. This means that the head portion for example comprises a through hole that is oriented axially parallel with a corresponding hole in the heddle ridge bar so that the heddle is fixable to the heddle ridge bar by means of an M2 screw. Screws larger than M2 cannot be utilized since the size of the head portion or the base of the heddle forbids the use of larger screws. Manipulation of an M2 screw is very complicated as such a screw gets easily lost and is also very difficult to manipulate by hands.